Anil Baluni has been named head of the BJP’s media department with a mandate to improve party’s ties with the media and evolve a communication strategy to popularise the government’s welfare schemes.

Anil Baluni will head the BJP’s media head. He has been tasked to improve the party’s relations with the media and popularise the Modi government’s welfare schemes.(HT Photo)

BJP president Amit Shah on Friday appointed Anil Baluni (45) as the new head of the party’s media department. A native of Uttarakhand, Baluni is also a national spokesperson of the party.

In his new role, Baluni will work on improving the relation between the party and media and also evolve a communication strategy to popularise the welfare schemes for the Narendra Modi government.

Closely associated with the RSS, Baluni is known as a soft-spoken leader and a backroom boy whose management skills impressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah. He was actively involved in the campaign management for Modi in Varanasi during the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

Baluni was seen as a potential chief ministerial candidate in Uttarakhand, but the party decided to retain him in Delhi.

A nature and wild life enthusiast, Baluni was the vice chairman of the forest and environment advisory committee in the previous BJP government in Uttarakhand between 2007 and 2012.